Swimming Home
by misplacedshadow
Summary: They're trapped in a metal box, sinking to the ocean floor and she can hear them calling... A short fic on the events following on from Ragtag.


**Disclaimer: I don't (sadly) own Agents of SHIELD!**

**Okay, I don't really know why I wrote this, I am a terrible writer, but I couldn't get this out of my head, and so here we are. Just my take on what happens after the end of Ragtag, especially because I've read a lot of fics where Fitz has died and it sparked an idea...**

**This was written to "Swimming Home" by Evanescence, which I highly recommend listening to as it was my inspiration for this. **

**Also, all mistakes are mine, not beta-d etc, so let me know if anything is glaringly obvious :)**

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Leo Fitz is a scientist. He could tell you a million-and-one facts about the ocean. HE could tell you oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet and less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans. He could tell you the average depth of the ocean is 3,795 metres and that 85% of the area constitutes the dark, cold environment we call the deep sea.

Yet he is still shocked by how dark the water surrounding them is.

It was the first thing he noticed as he came to, his face pressed hard against cold metal. Groaning, he twisted his head to look around as he attempted to comprehend what the hell had just happened. The medical pod was doused in a sickly green light, omitted from the battery-powered back up strips attached to the ceiling that flickered alarmingly every other minute. Outside the large glass walls of the med pod was... nothing. The darkness was impenetrable, thick, with not even a hint of light breaking through. It's as if they've fallen off the edge of the world.

Falling.

They'd been falling.

Trapped in a metal box.

It was slowly clicking back into place. Ward had ejected them off the Bus. He could still see his face as he overrode the safety lock, his face a stone mask and Fitz's screams mingled with Jemma's...

_Jemma._

Jemma had been in the box with him.

Twisting quickly, he made to rise off the floor only to be struck with a sudden searing pain up his left arm. Risking a glance he registered the awkward angle it lay at, automatically cataloguing what bones had broken and whether it looked like a clean break or not. By the shape of his elbow he guessed not. His stomach turned and he felt bile rise in his throat as the pain began to splinter down his arm and into every finger.

Jemma...

Pushing aside the nausea he scanned the med pod, looking everywhere for his partner. Finally he saw a boot protruding from round the other side of the gurney, which thank god had been tied down to the floor because if that had been lose it would suffice to say they'd be dealing with more than broken arms with that smashing around.

Crawling as best he could as he cradled his damaged arm to his chest, he made his way to where his best friend lay sprawled on the floor. Her hair fanned against the floor, shielding her pale face from view.

"Jem? Jemma?"

No response. His heart was in his mouth as he gently placed two fingers to her pulse point.

"Jemma please"

His voice was nothing but a mere whisper as he waited, feeling for anything.

And he found it. Thready against his fingertips, but there was no denying the beat of her heart.

His eyes swept over her, over the files and tools lay scattered over her prone form from the fall, lingering at her pale hands stretched out as if she was trying to reach something, anything. It was only as he reached out to cradle her head with his good hand he noted the sticky substance clinging to her hair. The dim lighting and the shadows the water cast had helped hide the pool of dark blood spreading from her head.

"No-" his throat constricted and for the second time he felt his stomach churn as he took in the deathly pale pallor of his partner, so contrasted against the crimson blood that now stained his hand.

"Jemma please, you can't do this to me"

"Jemma wake up, you have to do this for me!"

His breathing was ragged as he shook her shoulder, more roughly than he should have, but he had to get her to wake up, he _needed_ her to.

"Fitz..."

It was a whisper, and a slurred one at that, but it sent relief flooding through Fitz's veins. Her eyelids fluttered and her delicate hands twitched by her side.

"Jemma, oh Jemma, thank god I thought you were-" a sob he hadn't realised he'd been holding back escaped from him as he gently manoeuvred Jemma into an upright position, pulling the two of them back until they rested against the wall.

"Silly Fitz" she whispered, her eyes unfocused as she gazed up at him, her body sagging against his chest as he supported her with his right arm.

"You've hit your head Jem, there's... there's a lot of blood" _too much, too much blood_, Fitz thought to himself but he pushed the thought away violently, he could not think like that.

"Where... what... happened?" she stumbles over her words as she stares at her battered engineer, his curls wild and she wants to run her hand through them to push them into place but her arms just won't move.

"Ward through us off the Bus. We're in the ocean. But it's ok Jem, we've got a tracker, Triplett gave it to me, they'll find us, the team will rescue us, we'll be ok, we'll fix this together, like we always do, yeah Jem?" He's rambling, he knows he is, but he has to do something, say anything to push away the dread that is slowly filling him up from the inside.

"Together... you and me..." black is creeping in the edges of her vision, or maybe that's just the ocean water. She can hear it, groaning, sighing, softly calling her name.

She feels cold, icy tendrils creeping up her body apart from where her cheek is pressed into Fitz's chest. It's like being against a furnace, the heat so intense she's sure she'll catch fire. Somewhere, at the back of her mind she knows the two extremes aren't good, christ, the fact she can't move her lower body should be ringing alarm bells but the thoughts can't seem to navigate the thick fog enveloping her mind.

"I've been beside you the whole damn time, Jemma, and that's not about to change now". He doesn't notice the tears slipping down his face until one falls onto her face, sliding gently down ivory skin as her eyes bore into his.

"I never found the chance to tell you... It was never the right time and I... I was scared Jem. You know I hate change. I was too damn frightened of what could happen to ever tell you and n- now it might be too late..."

He's biting his lip as he stifles back further cries and she desperately wants to reach up, to caress his face, to wipe his tears away. But the sounds of the ocean are louder now, she can hear them swirling around her, crashing against her and she feels like she's beginning to float.

Her eyes slip in and out of focus and he can feel the sticky consistency leeching from her head through his shirt, can smell the metallic tang of it and he knows it's too late.

"I need you to know, Jemma. I lov-"

"I know" her whisper is quiet but it carries through the silent box, simultaneously filling Fitz's heart and tearing it to shreds at the same time.

"I've always known. I- I love you t-too..." her throat is constricting now, but she has to get these words out, even if it kills her and she knows full well it just might.

The tears flow freely now at her confession as he gently leans down to place a kiss on her bloodless lips, slowly rocking the two of them as he cradles her to his chest.

"I'm sorry f-f-fitz" everything is fuzzy now and she feels the arms of the ocean reaching out to her, slowly pulling apart from her only anchor.

"You've nothing to be sorry for" he chokes out as he hugs her to him, embracing her to his chest as he buries his face in her hair.

"I... I can hear them calling" everything is dark now but she is weightless. Nothing can hold her down.

"Jem..." he senses, more than feels her let go, her body finally going limp in his arms. He sobs into her hair, inhaling the barely there scent of jasmine she uses as shampoo, but it's potent now, mixed with the sickening smell of blood.

He finally raises his head to stare at the face of his love, her eyes glassy, a ghost of a smile on her lips.

He is screaming. His throat is raw, every nerve in his body is electrified, and the guttural animalistic sound reverberates off the metal walls.

That is how they find him, broken, as he cradles his dead biochemist in his lap, gently stroking her cheek as he falls apart, piece by piece.

She is floating, watching as her lover holds her still body, his screams echoing but the ocean is louder. She smiles once more, before the voices consume her.

_I'm sorry  
Nothing can hold me  
I adore you still  
But I hear them calling -  
And nothing can hold me_


End file.
